At Cornell
Lior Lavie, a longtime member of the Israeli national team, was named the Ted Moore '71 Director of Sailing in the summer of 2022. Lavie has coached at the highest levels at both the youth and professional levels and spent the spring 2022 season as the Big Red's Associate Head Coach.
In his first season as head coach, Lavie's charges qualified for nationals in women's fleet racing, finishing fourth, and in open racing, reaching the semifinals. The Big Red's Lucija Ruzevic claimed the singlehanded conference title and finished sixth nationally, while Cornell also earned MAISA titles in the women's spring and team race events. Lavie was named the MAISA Coach of the Year following the campaign.
His second season saw the Big Red ranked as high as fourth in the women's sailing national polls and posted seven first-place finishes across the season. The team won the MAISA Women's Team Racing Championships in the spring to earn a bid to the Women's National Championships, finished sixth at the Eastern Women's Fleet Finals, seventh at the Women's Team Racing Nationals, and earned a 12th-place finish at the Western Open National Semifinals. The team earned two All-America honors, one of whom was a finalist for the National Women's Sailor of the Year, two All-Ivy nods, four All-MAISA women's honors, and five All-MAISA open honors.Â
In 2024-25, Cornell had the highest finisher at singlehanded nationals in team history (Gilda Dondona '28, second) with fall and spring MAISA titles, along with a conference singlehanded title. The Big Red qualified for nationals in women's fleet and team racing and open fleet racing, finishing the year ranked No. 4 in the nation. His good work, along with assistant coach Reed Lorimer, was rewarded with the Ivy League Coaching Staff of the Year designation.
Prior to Cornell
Lavie has more than a decade of coaching experience at the club and Olympic Development levels following eight years as a member of the Israeli national team (2004-11). He is currently involved in coaching with the US Sailing Olympic Class 49er, as well as at Westminster and Immaculata LaSalle HS teams in Miami, Fla. Lavie's fleets have won multiple national and World Championships, and he has extensive experience with the Optimist and i420.
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Competition Career
As a competitor, Lavie has sailed in the J70 World Championships as recently as 2018 when he finished on the podium, taking third among many professional sailors. He has been a high-level youth sailor competing in the i420 and Olympic class 470.
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Personal
Lavie graduated from Israel's Wingate Institute for Physical Education and Sports and the NAT Holmen school for coaches and trainers in Netanya, Isreal. He is a certified U.S. Sailing Level 3 Coach with all required training to the Olympic standards.
Updated June 2025
